THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY;

SUNDAY 31^st/ JANUARY 2016.

Another nice long lie in this morning as the village is very quiet, we then had a cup of tea and toast before getting the Sunday ‘Roast’ on the go; “ Roast Leg of New Zealand Lamb “ studded with Garlic & Rosemary,  with a large dish of my famous ‘Boulangere Potatoes’ to go in the oven this evening, we are having Crushed Carrot & Turnips, Cauliflower & Broccoli Florets in a three Cheese sauce and Garden Peas – lots of Mint Sauce and of course my finger licking Pan Gravy! See below the ‘Roast Leg of Lamb’ as it was ‘resting’!

We are having one of our nice relaxing days at home taking things easy and just doing nothing, for the rest of the day, because we can! This morning the sun was out early and the sky is now blue, there is no breeze so its another fine day here in sunny Manilva with the temperature reaching 20 degs by lunchtime, we have more of the same at the start of next week.

There are no plans for next week ,so far, we will pop down one day to get our passport photos taken and then call into the ‘English Bookshop’ where the owner Steve will sort them all out and arrange for the new ones to be delivered to our house. On Monday evening we both have an appointment down at the surgery in the evening to see the Chiropodist and ‘Reina’ this week is with us for five days from Monday to Friday, no doubt ‘Chispa’ will be in and out to play with her, she came crashing in earlier this morning.

Sad news about ‘Sir Terry Wogan’ this morning as he died after a short illness with the dreaded Cancer, he was very nice to us both , especially Brenda,  when we met him at a opening/function in Rhyl many years ago during the early days of our time at the ‘Hotel Seventy Degrees’ in Colwyn Bay.

On the sports front yesterday the Horse Racing from Cheltenham & Doncaster, on Channel 4,  was very exciting and showed lots of the horse that will be the ‘stars’ at the ‘Cheltenham festival’ in six weeks time; Liverpool played terribly and could only draw 0-0 with West Ham, Manchester City had an impressive win 0-4 at Aston Villa and Barcelona beat Atl.Madrid 2-1

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The late film was “ 127 Hours “ from 2010, in the true story about a real-life ‘canyoneer’ who became trapped in the isolated in the  ‘Blue John Canyon’ in Utah and has to survive by amputating his trapped arm to escape, he is fitted with a prosthesis and later starts a family and still too this day continues with his hobby! He is played by ‘James Franco’ It was nominated for many awards including ‘Best Actor’

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A WARM & CRISP SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY

SATURDAY 30^th/ JANUARY 2016.

We had a well deserved lie in this morning until the gas bottle delivery man came rattling down our street, the sun was out early and the sky is blue, there is no breeze and we are in for another glorious weekend here in sunny Manilva. Yesterday evening we had a surprise as an un-forecast storm hit us, the first we knew was when there was a tremendous flash of lightening followed by an very loud overhead clap of thunder that shook the house, it then was then the time for a cloud burst with severe heavy rain and large hailstones! This lasted for over two hours!! We had power cuts and lots more of the shattering thunder & lightening!!  This is the one that gave us the fright of our lives!! 

For breakfast we had Brenda’s famous ‘Campo’ Poached Eggs on Toast with mugs of steaming tea, I then settled down to watch on BBC 1 ‘Saturday Kitchen Live’ before coming up to the office to type and post the Blog after first catching up with the WWW, E-Mails, Facebook Messages, read the newspapers and catch up with the news from around the world.

For our supper this evening we are having ‘Grilled Entrecote Steak’ cooked on a very hot griddle plate ‘Med-Rare’ with sautéed Baby Mushrooms, deep fried Garlic Buds on Brenda’s and mine topped with a ‘Campo’ Fried Egg! Finely sliced Green Beans, Jane brought Brenda a new Bean cutter to replace the old one she gave us many years ago! Of course we are having some twice-cooked ‘Frits’ on the side.

This afternoon I will be watching the Horse Racing on Channel 4 from Cheltenham & Doncaster and then following the ‘FA Cup’ Football over in England as Aston Villa welcome Manchester City and later Liverpool are at home to West Ham, tomorrow Everton travel up the M6 to Carlisle; over here in ‘La Liga’ Barcelona are at home to Atl.Madrid and Real Madrid welcome Mano’s team Espanyol.

Last night we channel hopped over on English TV before watching the late film on TVE 1 – “ Along Came the Spider “ from 2001 with Morgan Freeman playing Detective Alex Cross in a psychological thriller written by our favourite ‘ easy reading’ author James Patterson, with Monica Potter, Michael Wincott & Mika Bourem in the supporting roles; Morgan Freeman is very good as the legendary detective but does not match the description of Alex Cross that you have in your mind,ie, larger, younger and taller?!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND.

FRIDAY 29^th/ JANUARY 2016.

I was up early this morning to see ‘Reina’ back for the day, the workmen on the site at the moment are making a lot of noise, banging, drilling, scraping etc – yesterday they also took down the scaffolding on the front of the house with as much noise as possible. See the picture below.

We have another glorious day here in sunny Manilva, the threat of rain has not arrived and this morning the skies are blue, the sun was out early and there is no breeze, all the locals are commenting on the fine weather for the time of the year, over the weekend its going nicer and a little warmer.

I shot down to Sabinillas leaving Brenda in the house for a shower and to keep an eye on the dog, when I returned a nice Smoked Bacon Butty and a mug of steaming tea was ready for me! I called into the bank for some cash, then the English Bookshop to post a birthday card? and collect the local newspapers, no ’Mercadona’ this morning so it was just some English essentials from ‘Super Sol’- I also exchanged our new wall clock as the new one was not working, on the way back I also put some money into Lillemor’s mobile phone as she is due back over from Sweden in the next few weeks.

Back at the house and after breakfast ‘Chispa’ came calling and is playing around my feet as I’m typing the Blog; for our supper this evening we are having Poached ‘Cushions of Hake Fillet’ in a classic ‘Duglere sauce along with the baby ‘New Potatoes’ in their skins that we bought in the market in Malaga the other day, on Saturday its ‘Entrecote Steak’ with ‘ Frits’ and then on Sunday we are having a ‘Roast Leg of New Zealand Lamb’ on ‘ Boulangere’ Potatoes! Another ‘ Gourmet’ weekend in sunny Manilva!   See this 'Hake supper below;

We are taking things very easy over the weekend after all the excitement of the last few days, Brenda has just gone off with ‘Chispa’ for a walk down to the surgery to make an appointment for next week for a check up, ‘Reina is in her duvet. No plan’s so far for the week ahead, we are at the surgery on Monday evening to see the Chiropodist and ‘Reina’ is back with for us for five days from Monday to Friday. This evening we will Channel hop and find something to watch after supper.

I’m going to come back to my time at the ‘Stork Hotel’ in Liverpool in the next few days after I put down in writing some of the memories of the happening at the hotel over the years.

PS, Its or personal 'Black Monday' next week as we have two of our Pensions due in our Spanish account and the Euro is still down at its lowest!!  Watch this space.

Thought for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A COOL & OVERCAST THURSDAY IN SUNNY MANILVA;

THURSDAY 28^th/ JANUARY 2016.

Just a little lie in this morning as ‘Reina’ was due back with us for the day, she is also here tomorrow, she’s on a diet at the moment and is sleeping a lot in her duvets, at lunchtime she pops down for a little snack! Its a little overcast today and also cooler, we definitively had the best two days ,so far this year, as we were out playing with David & Jane down here on the ‘Costa Del Sol’ The forecast for Friday is looking a little damp but then its picking up over the weekend.

We are having an at home day taking things very easy after all the excitement of the past two days, this evening we are having for supper my special ‘Manilva Tower Burger’ with twice-cooked ‘Frits’

So for today’s Blog I’ve posted some pictures and written a little about the old  “ Stork Hotel “ from my early days as a Trainee Manager, Trainee Assistant Manager, Assistant Manager and finally a Senior Assistant Manager/ Day Manager! All this was back in 1964/68 with my dear Spanish friend from Madrid Rafael one step ahead of me! The hotel was on one side of ‘Queen Square’ in front of the ‘Royal Court Theatre’

The wholesale Fruit/Flower & Vegetable Market set up on the square overnight from 3-00am in the morning; my very first job on my first day at the hotel, dressed in Pinstripes, Black jacket and stiff White Collar & a Silver Tie was to come down the front steps and go and order the goods for the chef from the market, I was greeted by one of the Flower Market owners as he had known me from a child when I used to go down to the market with my mother, who had two flower shops and my Uncle, her brother, who was the ‘Head Florist’ at the famous ‘Adelphi’ Hotel for over 50 years!  He placed a Red Rose in my lapel and from then on I always wore a Rose in all my business suits ( Handmade ) for the next 40 years!!

My first ‘taste’ of hotel life was when I was taken into the Adelphi Hotel through the kitchens on ‘Grand National Saturday’ and I saw 100s of chefs in their tall white hats ( a Toque! ) working over the coal fired stoves!! My other Uncle was a professional Carver on the Atlantic liners of the time, I still have his Pearl handled Carving Knife & Fork!

The hotel was owned by an Irish family ‘ The Clancy’s’ with the son Jack Jnr.- there during the week from 9-00am to 5.00pm only! It was very busy with a Restaurant, Grill Room, Meeting and Function Suits, Stock Rooms as well as a Lounge and a classic and famous Cocktail Bar; so all sorts of business, all the time, with lots of famous celebrity’s/actors/ local Gangsters and their ‘molls’ ladies that worked for pleasure and also the local Gay Community from the surrounding famous bars ie, ‘ The Magic Clock’!! 

The hotel was run on classic lines with Bell Boys, a Head Hall Porter, Lounge Waiters, a Head Waiter, a full Kitchen Brigade with still room maids etc.under the Head Chef. The Housekeeping was mainly ‘live in’ chambermaids from across Europe with the Reception staff also mainly from Austria! They lived in the old Haymarket building opposite the hotel over looking St. John’s Gardens behind St.Georges Hall.

See some pictures below, I will continue the story on tomorrows Blog with some stories of the goings on back in the 60s!!

Thought for the Day, See above.

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" CERVECERIAS LOS GATOS " MALAGA ON WEDNESDAY;